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(No Model.)

G. A. LOWRY. AUTOMATIC EEEDEE EOE TWINE MAKING MACHINES. No. 524,423.Patented Aug. 14, 1894.

J J f l l C Q 0 J WITNESSES ZZ 1/ Meaty @112 k/pw r f7 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. LOWRY, OF DES MOIN ES, IOWA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS,TOTHE WARDER,BUSHNELL dz GLESSNER COMPANY, OF SPRING- FIELD, OHIO, ANDTHE WALTER A. WOOD MOWING AND REAPING MA- CHINE COMPANY, OF HOOSICKFALLS, NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC FEE DER FOR TWINE-MAKING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 524,423, dated August14, 1894. Application filed July 29, 1890. Renewed January 13, 1894.Serial No. 496,812. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that. I, GEORGE A. LOWRY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Feeders forTwine-Makin g Machines, the; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will :0enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

My invention relates to an automatic feeder adapted to be used inconnection with machines for making twine, such as is shown in myPatent.No. 436,908, dated September 23,1890,andin connection withvarious other machines too numerous to herein mention.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of partshereinafter described and claimed.

Like reference letters refer to the same parts in the several figures ofthe drawings, in which- Figure 1, is a side elevation partly brokenaway, of my improved automatic feeder, and of a portion of the spout ofthe twine-making machine. Fig. 2, is a plan view of the same parts beingbroken away; and, Fig. 3, is a detail view of a nipper which may be usedin connection with my present invention.

In inventions of this general class it is customary to locate the feederin proximity to the spout or trough of a twine making machine, and,accordingly, I have in this in- 3 5 stance followed such custom.

In any suitable frame, A, I find it advantageous to mount a feedingtrough or spout, B, whose inner end extends beyonds this frame and intoa twine making machine. In

this frame, A, I journal a shaft, D, upon the outer end of which is apulley or other suitable gear, E, and upon which is also mounted, aboutcentrally between the sides of the frame, a hub F carrying a series ofradiat- 5 ing spokes, G, which latter have secured to their outer endsnippers, I, such as are shown more clearly in Fig. 3. The nipper that Iprefer to employ is shown in said Fig. 3; and is composedof two rods, a,b, which are crossed and pivoted near one pair of their ends, and theselatter are flattened into a pair of jaws, c, c, which are flaredoutwardly so as to produce a wide mouth. To regulate the width which theflaring jaws may be spread apart, I may secure to one of the rods abolt, 01, and cause the same to pass through an aperture in the oppositerod and provide the outer end of such bolt with suitable nuts, 6, whichcan be adjusted thereon so as to limit the movement of one rod withrespect to the other.

A collar f, with a main portion and two wings is secured to the upperside of the flattened portion of one rod and'its wings are extended soas to embrace the sides of both rods. This collar has an elongated slot;"and by means of a set screw f passing through su ch slot is madeadjustable to and from the front end of the flaring jaws; and suchcollar is used to regulate the depth of the recess between the jaws whenthey are opened. 0

The nipper is not claimed in this application, but forms the subjectmatter of the claims in my application, Serial No. 358,684, filed ,July14, 1890. It is manifest that in place of these nippers other devicesfor grip- 7 5 ping and releasing the grass or straw might readily beemployed.

The spout, C, is secured by brackets 0 or in any other convenientmanner, to the frame,

A, before mentioned; and I prefer to arrange So this spout forward ofthe hub, F, and at a lower level. I also find it advantageous toconstruct the spout, O, with a hinged front section, 0'; and to connectthe forward end of the latter with the frame A by a spiral orothersuitable spring K. At proper distances in front of, and to the rearof, the shaft, D, I arrange cams, L, L, located so as to be in the pathof the, movable arms a of the nippers.

The operation of my invention is as follows: Grass, straw, or othersuitable material is placed in the spout, or trough, O; and the hub Fcarrying the radiating arms G and nippers I is caused to revolve, anddips such nippers into the hay or straw. The cam, L, strikes 5 themovable arm of the nipper at this point and throws the jaws open;thereby permitting them to receive a proper number of strands of the hayor straw. Almost immediately the nipper arm is caused to pass from underthe control of the cam, L, and its spring causes the nipper jaws toclose upon the material within them and they carry it, as the armscontinue to revolve, over to the spout or feeding trough, B, connectedwith the machine for making twine. Inasmuch as the section, 0,

ofthe trough, O, is hinged and supported by a spring, the materialtherein is elastically held up against the nipper jaws while the sameare passing through the trough or spout, C. When the nippers havecarried the material with which they are laden over the feeding spout,B, the movable arm of each nipper comes in turn into contact with thecam L; and such arm is pressed outward, and thereby caused to throw itsattached jaw outward and thus release the grass or straw, and permit thesame to fall into the feeding trough, from which it is drawn into thetwine making machine.

What I claim, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a machine of the class described the combination, with the feedbox or hopper, of arevolving wheel or disk, provided at its peofvthecontents of the hopper, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a machine of the class described, th combination of the feedbox orhopper, the revoluble feed wheel having jaws adapted to grasp a portionof the contents of the hopper and a receivingtrough to receive thematerial carried from the box or hopper by the jaws of the feed wheel,substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the hopper, the revoluble feed wheel having thestationary and the pivoted jaws, mechanism for operating the latter thereceiving trough, and twisting mechanism arranged at the discharge endof the latter, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. An automatic feeder comprising a trough for containing the material,a rotatable shaft having a plurality of radiating nippers connectedtherewith and arranged to successively extend into the trough and pickmaterial therefrom, and means for operating such nipup to such nippers,and mechanism for operating the latter substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

6. An automatic feeder comprising a revoluble series of nippers, ayielding support for holding the material against the action of suchnippers, and cams for opening and closing the jaws of such nippers,substantially as and for the purpose'set forth.

7. An automatic feeder comprising revoluble nippers, and a trough havinga hinged section elastically supported in relation to such nippers, andmechanism for opening and closing the nippers substantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

8. An automatic feeder comprising a rotatable shaft, a series of spokesradiating therefrom, a nipper carried on each spoke, a suit- 1 abletrough or spout for containing the ma- 1 terial to be gripped by thenippers, and means for operating such nippers substantially as l and forthe purpose set forth. riphery with jaws adapted to grasp a portion a 9;In an automatic feeder, the combination of a suitable frame, a trough orspout supported thereby, a revoluble series of nippers arranged in saidframe above the trough or spout just mentioned, a yielding support forholding the material up to the nippers and arranged infront of theiraxis of movement, and mechanism for opening and closing the jaws of thenippers while they are adjacent to the said yielding support and foreffecting the same movement when they are carried over to the trough orspout; whereby the strands of material are selected from the mass andcarried in proper quantities and delivered to the troughor spout,substantially as p and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affixmy signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A. LOWRY.

Witnesses:

LYMAN O. WILDER, HINSDILL PARSONS.

